Amazing experiences around every corner!

Mt. Rainier + Sunny Day + Weekend = Crowds

We have been fortunate to have Leslie and Anthony (daughter and fiance) to be our tour guides on some special excursions in Washington State including a recent day trip to Mt. Rainier.

Once in the gate it is about 15 miles to the visitor center for the Paradise area. Of course, the parking lot was already full before 11:00 a.m., so we parked in a picnic area that required us to start off with a nice, steep, uphill, half-mile walk to the visitor center. (I have always hoped to add even more girth to my ex-dancer calves just to make sure no boots of any design can fit me, so this really helped with that goal.)

Here are some photos in a slideshow if you’d like to see some of the highlights. They include beautiful waterfalls and amazing mountain and pasture views.

I read a lot of signs and soaked in a ton of information about Mt. Rainier while we were there. The stunning beauty of the place kept me from retaining much of it. We were amazed by our surroundings at every turn…and thank you to Greg for spying an actual mountain goat grazing across from us on the side of the mountain! Definitely grateful for the binoculars to see that critter!

A Sampling of Tacoma

We are staying just south of Tacoma for a couple of weeks, so we felt compelled to check out the city a bit. Given that we have chosen to live in a camper away from urban life, it is a big moment when we venture into any sized -“opolis.” I find it mildly stressful, to be honest.

Chinese Reconciliation Park – In Tacoma?

Wow, we were surprised to learn that the city of Tacoma evicted its Chinese population by force on November 3, 1885! They even made them walk eight miles to board a train to Portland! It partially had to do with the fact that Chinese immigrants were willing to take lower-wage jobs so they could send money to their families. (This is sounding eerily familiar to current-day.)

So to make up for all that, there is a park along the water with some educational displays. I’m sure that park made somebody in politics feel better, but probably not anyone with an actual personal interest.

Port of Tacoma

This waterfront area is quite lovely and has an old bridge that moves using counterweights. There was also a really cute playground with an awesome slide for the kiddos. Greg liked the supply ships docked nearby. They are on standby and can be ready to go with a few days’ notice.

Salmon at Olympia’s Brewery Park & Tumwater FAlls

The artesian water in this area made for good beer, thus Olympia Brewery made its home along the Deschutes River from 1933 to 2003. The creepy, abandoned building still stands with graffiti that defies gravity.

As you may know, salmon is a huge industry and tradition in the Pacific Northwest. At Tumwater Falls there is an active hatchery. So at this time of year the salmon, who spend years at sea, return to where they hatched to spawn and finally die where they started. They swim up creeks and rivers and end up in freshwater after living in saltwater which, from what I’ve read, triggers a physical change in them that spurs along the end of the spawning process.

This life cycle is so fascinating to me, because I can’t even remember where I put my keys let alone find my way back to the very hospital where I was born! And I have a much larger brain than a salmon, I think?

At Tumwater Falls you can witness the salmon coming upstream, leaping up the falls and using the fish ladders that are there to make the process easier for them. Once in the fish hatchery runs, the salmon are still driven by instinct to jump over anything vertical. So as we were standing there, they were jumping vertically trying to scale the walls of the fish runs. It was so frequent that it reminded me of popcorn popping as they each popped up and down. We even saw one make it over the wall, but it got stuck on the ledge between runs. There wasn’t anyone to push it back in the water. (Sad to see, but had to let it go.)

Have I Mentioned that Mushrooms Are A Big Deal in The PNW?

I never gave mushrooms much thought (other than cooking with them) before arriving here and witnessing the passion that people have for them. One example, Leslie (my daughter) takes beautiful mushroom photos and has lined her hallway with the photos she has taken…old-school, printed photos! The soil and weather conditions here are ideal for mushroom growth.

Imagine my surprise when Greg and I took a walk on a marsh trail near our campground and found ourselves immersed in a mushroom explosion. And since the area isn’t well-traveled, most of the mushrooms are intact and just beautiful. Here is a slideshow of some of my new mushroom friends and their home.

Foragers guard the locations of their successful hunts of edible mushrooms. They are experts in mycology, I’m sure. (New word to use at a cocktail party or Scrabble game.) Even if I had a picture of an edible mushroom and I found what I thought matched that picture, I still wouldn’t trust my judgment. People get sick and even die from eating mushrooms that look almost like a picture. Nope, not for me! I’d rather pay $15+/pound at a farmers market.

Nemo & Cleo

They are doing great! They are still travel champions and love spending time on the catio each day. In fact, they demand that we open it by 6:30 a.m. We know this, because they start pulling on the window shades to wake us up.